Regardless of your practice, as dentists, we have all heard the jokes and other comments identifying how terrible root canal therapy is for our patients. Despite the advancements in endodontics with respect to efficacy and efficiency in root canal therapy, patients still express their fear of this treatment approach.

Last month, AAE president-elect Dr. Keith V. Krell and I had the pleasure of representing the AAE at the Dental Specialty Group meeting in Chicago. The leadership of each of the nine ADA-recognized specialties attends this biannual meeting to get an update from the ADA on topical issues and to discuss items of mutual interest among the dental specialties.

Endodontics educators, residents and corporate supporters gathered in Chicago last month for a series of AAE and Foundation for Endodontics-sponsored events. The Educator Workshop, Corporate Community Conference and APICES were held Aug. 24-25, giving all audiences an opportunity to interact and network with each other, as well as AAE leadership and staff.

WCDT (World Congress on Dental Traumatology) 2018 was a first-of-its-kind event, jointly hosted jointly by the AAE and the International Association of Dental Traumatology. Held Aug. 15-18 in sunny San Diego, the four-day congress featured a whole host of prominent speakers – well-known experts in their respective fields.

Our standing committees are the backbone of our Association — every activity of the AAE takes shape at the committee level. The AAE is strong because of the dedicated, diverse and hard-working individuals who volunteer their time and talents.

Congratulations to meeting services manager Justine Radies for attaining her CMP (Certified Meeting Professional), and to human resources manager Paul Young for his recent selection as winner of the Professional Development Faculty Distinguished Teaching Excellence Award from Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies.

Through the AAE website, social media channels, online advertising and digital resources, the Association educates the public about endodontics, helping them find specialists in their area, and provides shareable content for members and other dental professionals.

The Chrome web browser has launched a new update this July to alert visitors if the website they’re visiting is secure or “Not Secure”. This can be scary for patients looking to submit personal information on your website as identity theft affected 15 million people in 2017 alone.